This invention pertains to treating municipal solid waste (MSW) and producing clean hydrocarbon liquid fuel products. It pertains particularly to processing sized particulate municipal solid waste materials by density separation in a suitable liquid medium into organic and inorganic portions, digestion of the organic portion, and fractionation of the digested organic material to produce clean hydrocarbon liquid and slurry fuel products having high heating values.
Great quantities of municipal solid waste (MSW) materials are generated and collected regularly in both rural and urban areas of the United States and other developed countries, and require suitable disposal methods, such as by incineration or by being placed in landfills. However, such disposal methods are becoming increasingly expensive and/or environmentally undesirable. Processing of municipal solid waste (MSW) materials to produce solid fuel products suitable for combustion in steam boilers of electric power plants is known, and some such processing plants are in use. However, such solid fuels have serious disadvantages including undesirably high moisture content, high ash contents and low heating value. Other processes for utilizing carbonaceous waste materials as a water slurry to produce gaseous or slurry fuels are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,485,728 and 5,685,153 to Dickinson. Because of the growing economic and environmental needs to recycle and reuse increasing amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW) material more efficiently, improvements and innovations in such waste treatment processes are needed and have been sought.